On cigarette packing machines for producing rigid hinged-lid packets of cigarettes, a cutting unit of the type described above is used in combination with an incision unit comprising one or more movable members for forming longitudinal fold lines on the continuous strip at an incision station located upstream from the cutting station.
Producing collar blanks as described above calls for respective movable members with respective actuating devices at both the incision and cutting stations, and for extremely accurate positioning of the incision station with respect to the cutting station, thus complicating the mechanics and increasing the cost of the cutting unit.